Are extractors valuable for business?

[wildasin]

Im a new coin laundry owner, I was wondering about extractors and are they money efficient? Also is a 50lb. washer essentaial for good business. Any other feedback on equipment that is a must in a coin laundry. Thankyou

[Dave_in_Minnesota]

I have a extractor and people think that it is great... many people say that it is the main reason they come to our store. We currently have older equipment so it helps with extraction. Much of the newer equipment on the market does a good job of extraction so it is not necessary... but who can argue w/the customer.

I have always read that they are expensive to maintain but mine has been care-free.
dave.

[LEEHUSTON]

Yes, I think the extractor is worth the trouble. Customers like it. We also save alot of money by running all of our wash and fold work through the machine and save at least 10 min of drying time on every load. That adds up with todays gas prices provided you have a decent amount of wash & fold work. The machine is expensive to aquire but very cheap to operate. I have a Bock 35lb machine and a Bock 60 lb machine. I have more problems witht he 60lb machine. Anybody have comments on that? The Bock people have pretty lousy customer service from my experince and extremely high part prices. The laundry equipment distributors hate Bock becasue Bock will not give them much discount. You can get parts direct from bock at about the same price as a distributor - sky high!

[PeterH]

Bock has 3 models of extractors - at least that is what they showed at Clean '01. A 35# direct drive, and 35# fluid drive and the 60# fluid drive. I like the direct drive for the simplicity, but most of my customer's loads will not fit in the 35#. Can anyone comment more specifically about the problems with these machines (besides the price)?

-ph

[LEEHUSTON]

I have a 35 (a model 316 I think) fluid drive that is about 5 years old. I have had very few problems. I have the new 606 60 lb machine and I have had more trouble with it in less than a year than the 35 ever had. It seems to go out of balance easier and for some reason(probably the out of balance condition) it throughs the drive belt off every now and then. I bought it from a vendor whose service department (nearly non existant)knows less about the machine than I do, so I have been doing my own work. The machine does well with the customers, but it seems to get off balance easier than the 35. Call me at 618-444-9181 if you want to talk about it more.

[Dave_in_Minnesota]

What is everyone's vend price on the 35#?

[Marianne]

25 cents